Professor Alicia Sasser Modestino and Jared Auclair, associate dean of professional program and graduate affairs in the College of Science, published an op-ed in the Boston Business Journal.
We have seen impressive successes in biotechnology in New England, most recently with Covid-19 vaccine development. However, its rapid growth faces barriers to expansion including talent shortages, desperate scrambles to secure and retain employees, and job searches that go beyond our region. As we seek to build back better from the pandemic, we have opportunities for economic growth in areas in the Northeast that have been historically left behind.
Kickstarted by an initiative signed by then-Gov. Patrick in 2008, Massachusetts began building its biotech community with a spending commitment of $1 billion over 10 years. Boston/Cambridge is now considered one of the largest hubs of biotechnology research and discovery. The industry is growing at such a rate that in Massachusetts alone, companies anticipate 40,000 new jobs over the next three years.
